Censored Youtubers Flee to Blockchain Platforms

The Cambridge Analytica incident has made the users worldwide worried about the safety of their personal information, so blockchain alternatives to centralized media platforms are becoming more and more appealing. They seem to offer a viable solution due to their secure design and lack of central authority which is capable of enforcing censorship.

Moreover, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, and Google are trying to weed out all crypto related advertisements from their platforms, which in turn makes crypto content creators migrate to other alternatives. Ned Scott, ‘Steemit’ platform user, stated that blockchain-based media platforms are much friendlier to their contributors. He said:

“There won’t be many single authorities dictating how social media operates.”

Peter “Furious Pete” Czerwinski is another example of a Youtuber who relocated most of his content on Dtube, a Steem-based media sharing platform. Dtube’ system awards content creators by sending them donations given by the users, bypassing all advertisement schemes.

Czerwinski claimed that his content failed to gain proper recognition on YouTube, in part due to growing censorship demands from the platform itself, as its main priority is to be fully advertisement-friendly. YouTube states that it only polices controversial or offensive material, but who decides what is controversial or offensive?

Putting the censorship aside, Dtube is simply more profitable to the content creators. Naomi Brockwell, a crypto blogger, stated that his daily income on Dtube is equal to his usual month’s worth of revenue from YouTube, which is about $50.

However, it might take a while until the majority of video blogger switch from their default media platform to a decentralized blockchain-based one. The growing worries about the safety of personal data could provide the initial push required to initiate the transition.